Saigon Restaurant, Pearce Shops Wednesday 4 May 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

Present: Jim, Karen, Ron, Kim, Megan, Andrew was in San Francisco (again) and John was holidaying in Queensland.

 

Ratings out of 4 stars:

 

Ambiance 3

Taste 3

Value 4

Service 2

Overall 3 1/2

 

We’ve had a number of excellent dinners at local Vietnamese restaurants recently (Green Bamboo, My’s, Kinh do) and couldn’t resist trying another one - the Saigon Restaurant in Pearce.  The restaurant was relatively quiet but the few occupied tables looked like retiree regulars which surely must be a good sign!  There was also good car parking available at the venue so we wondered why we had taken so long to get back here.

The menu had an extensive selection of standard Vietnamese dishes (over 130 choices). We ordered our favourite entrées (Vietnamese spring rolls and fresh rice paper rolls) along with 6 main courses (chicken and snow peas with cashews; deep fried fish fillets with ginger sauce; caramelised King prawns with pork; curried lamb with coconut cream and potatoes; beef with Vietnamese mint and peanut; and stir fried vegetables with bean curd). This was way too much food for six people (4 mains would have been plenty) but it didn’t stop us polishing it all off and apparently there was still room for dessert (go figure!).

Both the Vietnamese spring rolls and fresh rice paper rolls were fresh and tasty. The rice paper rolls were particularly nice (almost as good as Kinh do’s!) and we really enjoyed the accompanying hoisin-peanut dipping sauce.  For the mains, the curried lamb was a popular choice. Spicy without being too hot, the lamb was perfectly tender and not too fatty.  We also liked the fish fillets in ginger sauce with plenty of finely grated ginger giving the dish a nice kick.  The other dishes were fairly standard but still quite tasty.  They also combined well as a meal.   The richness of the caramelised prawns was a nice contrast to the lighter chicken and bean curd dishes and the freshness of the beef/Vietnamese mint dish rounded out the whole meal.   

The only dessert choice for the night was a (commercially prepared) caramel flan which was served with a huge scoop of ice cream.  It was a bit uninteresting but nonetheless provided the requisite sugar fix at the end of the meal.  

Overall the restaurant is a good option if you are looking for a standard Vietnamese meal (especially if you like rice paper rolls!) and definitely worth trying again.